The Professor and the Madman.

The Professor and the Madman (Harper-Collins, 1998). Simon Winchester's fascinating account of Professor James Murray and Dr. William Chester Minor has all the elements of a Sherlock Holmes adventure.

In a strange and darkly Victorian tale, Murray--the primary architect of the English language's most extraordinary dictionary--discovers that the quiet scholar, Minor--perhaps his ablest and most resourceful researcher--is in fact a homicidal psychotic. The book offers up an often heartwarming tale about redemption and forgiveness, on the ways in which grace can pierce the darkest tragedies of the human heart.